Can a state constitution provide broader protection for the right to choose than the federal Constitution does?
Yes. Women's freedom and privacy are protected by the U.S. Constitution, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic Roe v. Wade decision. However, an increasingly hostile Supreme Court has allowed more and more restrictions on those rights, allowing politicians and others to infringe on private medical decisions in many ways. Fortunately, a number of state courts have ruled that their state constitutions provide stronger protections for the right to privacy and the right to choose than the U.S. Constitution. If Roe were overturned, eliminating federal constitutional protection for choice, these states might be able to protect women’s continued access to reproductive-health services unless Congress passed legislation banning abortion nationwide, trumping state constitutional protections.
Current State Laws
16 states' constitutions provide greater protection of a woman's right to choose than does the federal Constitution: AK, AZ, CA, CT, FL, IL, IN, MA, MN, MT, NJ, NM, OR, TN, VT, WV.
View a map of all states with State Constitutional Protection.